New Gear

Well, we might not have been very far this much this year due to Skipper's workload, but I've been benefiting from his spoils.

The J3 is still in its bag back at Dagmar House, with everything but a single pulley needed to fit it.  I've even got not one, but two new AXIOM Raymarine plotters, a 7" at the chart table and a large12" in the cockpit.  These did not appear on any 'would like' or 'must-have' list but as a result of a chat at the Southampton boat show with a representative.  Ok, I could've been taken to the Hamble but the weekend it was planned as always the weather went Pete Tong with F8 and rain forecast, and arrived, so that weekend was scrubbed.  A fortnight later Skipper & crew arrived early on a Monday morning to move me across the river to East Cowes Marina where the Electronic Engineers came and fitted me with the new bits.  Thought it was a bit strange for Skipper to arrive on a Sunday afternoon on his own then start setting up additional fenders and mooring ropes.

It wasn't just the cost of the electronic equipment or the fitting of same, nor costs you'd expect like their ferry tickets to get to me, Skipper managed to lose or drop his phone whilst moving around on the River!  So I'm the proud owner of new 2018 electronic navigational equipment with the latest Oct 2019 software update.

This obviously has a knock-on effect, what doesn't? The analogue radar, that is usually turned on when I'm on the hard in the Yacht Haven over winter will not talk to it, it'll only talk to the new digital variety, but the crew made the decision that, as it's never been used for navigational purposes and that the AIS is far more intuitive than the radar, it has had its day as far as I'm concerned.  It's now on the winter list to be removed to save weight up the mast (improve the AVS) and be replaced by the external loudspeaker.

The screen is a touch screen that can be locked so that AIS targets can be touched to see all its' data rather than scrolling through the right buttons in sequence to find the same information.  And of course, as is always high on the crews' mind the amps required to run it has dropped.  A lot of the instruments such as wind are duplicated on the screen, showing tidal indicators too.  It will talk to the engine or the stereo or video equipment, so let's see if another 'would like' list starts to be compiled.

 

Would like -fruition

Last winter, Skipper produced a number of 'would likes', items that aren't part of my upkeep but that the Skipper considers to be nice to have for various reasons.  Easier to sail, enhanced performance, better use of space.  He entered into the manufacturing and fitting of an 'L' shaped bracket and strengthen my front bulkhead to take a 'D' ring just behind the anchor locker in order that a J3 can be made and flown in either strong winds (which we've had a few recently), or in light air when coupled with the Code 0, as per the Volvo Ocean Race IMOCA 60's had, with the view of getting across Lyme Bay in half the time, when invariably the wind drops one way or the other.  Or cover twice the distance of course.

The new sail has been made and collected and the halyards and lines are just being completed, so soon I'll have another to add to my suit of sails. On the sail front, I understand that my Code 0 will go back to the maker and be altered to take the top-down furling system, which will make its use so much easier and safer when sailing light-handed, as we usually do.

Two more pulleys were replaced at the weekend (6/10/19), leaving three of the old ones left to go, then all at the bottom of the mast have been replaced.  Two more could be changed to match that controls the boom, the main sheet, but maybe these will remain.

My line tidy's that had spider or starfish cracks are still in the garage although I understand one of them is ready to come back, having been resprayed with a white Gel coat and a clear one.  Giving a deeper shine.  It would be good to have those back on soon.

My plotter in the cockpit has been back to the manufacturers a couple of times to have it diodes replaced.  The screen sometimes flickers and goes dark before coming back and more recently it's been noted that the colours in the corners have faded. Clearly, Skip and Crew have been talking to the manufacturers or their appointed dealers at this year's boat show in Southampton as next week (17th) I'm going to be heading to Hamble Point, my original birthplace here in the UK, to have new 2019 hardware fitted replacing both cockpit and nav station screens.  It will, of course, mean that the old analogue radar will not talk to them, but with the more intuitive AIS system I already have, its use has diminished greatly.  In fact, the last fog episodes when we went to Weymouth and back, the radar wasn't used in favour of the AIS system.  So I can see this being removed from my mast taking a fair chunk of weight twenty feet or so above the deck and thus improving my centre of gravity and AVS numbers (angle of vanishing stability).

This was never on any list and so maybe this winters haul out will not be about 'would like's' and 'must-haves' but more basic maintenance and look forward to a new season sailing with all these improvements coming together.  Although I hear there's something else being made to enhance the experience of onboard living!

I'm to be on the hard for three months again and one in the marina.

Never stops

Even if I'm not being taken out for trips, skip still pops down regularly and spends his time if not on maintenance then resolving problems or upgrading.

I'll give you a couple of examples, the last time he popped over, he had worked out (another sleepless night) the possible reasons as to why the intelligent regulator he fitted to the engine's alternator charging system had stopped working after he changed the control panel over in the cockpit.  He sat in the engine bay and replaced the power wire that clearly had been severed as part of the previous works, now it works as it s's hould and did.  He's now got to trace the three wires that also have no power to them, but they may have served the LD lights that stop working years ago and are surplus to requirements.

The new J3 that he spent the winter months strengthening the front bulkhead, securing the L bracket and fitting the D ring to the deck is now ready for collection.  He's organised the halyard and sheets and that all costs shed loads of money but hopefully it'll not only up my light wind speeds but provide more control in high winds too.  That'll be two new sails this year, how lucky am I.

One of the line covers that was removed in winter due to some stress cracks, is just being finished off ready to come back.  For those that can't remember, he took them off to repair the spider or star cracks that had appeared in the Gel coat.  Having filled them he's sprayed Gel coat and polished up and then sprayed a clear flow coat over the top and has just completed polishing that up too on one of them.

He's got the parts to carry out a service on my engine and replace the deck lights in my lower spreaders, the UV rays getting to the plastic circlips making them brittle and snapping without warning.

The first reefing line which has been chaffed badly has been turned around so that the damaged section is in the line basket when the reef is implemented and this is due to be replaced this year.  And the jib sheet that has just gone stiff with salt over the years is due for replacement too.

Even the Honda outboard engine that skips had for years and has taken a bit of a bashing is having a facelift.  It's been dropped so many times and its handle has snapped off with the ignition hanging, is all to be replaced.  I think also following this year's boat show in Southampton, the little two-man dinghy is to have a sister in the shape of a larger four-man for when I'm anchored off the coast and they need to get to shore, something the two-man would do but couldn't guarantee to keep the crew or contents dry in anything but the flattest of seas.  The 3.2m can take up to a maximum of a 15hp engine, but the weight and baulk of such engines could give Skip muscle issues lifting or even just moving it around.  A smaller 10hp might be on the cards as will a small crane on the pushpit to aid Skipper in bringing it aboard and lowering it on to the dinghy, but I don't think these things are too urgent given the time of year.

Another discussion Skipper had at the boat show was with Raymarine, the people who originally supplied my navigational equipment back in 2006. Skips had the diodes replaced twice on the external E120 plotter and it is still blanking out on occasions and the corners are losing colour identity.  He's taken photos of the component parts to send in so a list of updated modern replacements can be made and my systems updated with modern touch-sensitive interactive systems.  This yet more investment into my well being, although the old fashioned outdated radar may not be replaced as AIS is far more intuitive so I can see that being removed, to be honest thats a fair bit of weight 10.0m up the mast and its removal would improve my centre of gravity STIX value.

So there's plenty to look forward to if all comes to fruition and 2020 is looking exciting.

Shanklin or not to Shanklin

So the weather or rather wind was looking quite nice for a trip to and stopover at Shanklin.  Off the beach at the bottom of the Chine to be exact, where the Fisherman's Lodge would be open to offer an evening meal.  Their friend from the Fastnet days, Jeff was also up to meet up and so a plan was set.  However, it wouldn't be an early start as a night out at the Wight Proms saw my crew out watching Shappi Khorsandi and Alan Davies live on stage, but Skip new that the tide would be against us till after lunch.

And so with everything on board that should be we set off with a single reef already set and headed out of the small ship channel at or around high tide.  The forecast was for strengthening winds in the afternoon and calming down later and from the northwest, which is why they had planned to meet Jeff in Shanklin, the wind would be coming over the island and so offered protection and dropping off for a peaceful night.  Unbeknown to my crew, Jeff had taken himself around the island via the Needles on Friday night and arrived mid-morning to anchor up and catch up on lost sleep.  Skip text him as we set off from Cowes to let him know we were on our way.  Mid -Solent we were cracking along downwind with a few fishing boats and opted to give Ryde Sands and Horse Sand Fort a large berth as slightly over sheeted Skip had to fight the helm as the crew eased the main as a near broach was foiled.  As we turned around Bembridge the wind was up to 23kts apparent and so Skip text Jeff to see what was happening around the corner 15-17kts was the answer and he could see me on AIS.

As Sandown Bay came into view that raised by a further 10kts to now 33kts and the seas started to rise to around 1.5m in height, too late to put the second reef in now.  We pushed on for a while as we knew the wind was due to drop, but it didn’t and it was too noisy to listen to any weather updates from the Coast Guard nor wishing to leave station and check the phone for updates.

We had Speed Oer Ground of 3.5kts as was the action of the choppy waves with wind over tide, although Marine Traffic had me at 6.0kts most of the time.  Decision time do they tack and headed into the Bay and waited to see if the wind and waves eased the further in we went, but they opted to turn turtle and retrace our path. 9-10.0kts surfing down waves and passing a yacht under engine was possibly more exciting than it should be. Once past Bembridge, the sea state lightened up a little and eventually passing Osbourne the wind did too.  With the reef still in but full jib rolled out we had a cracking sail back.

With low water springs and approaching low tide, not quite the best time to cross the chain links path, who was being pushed by the Kingstone Marine boat at the time due to the strong current, the crew  waited for them to cross over and proceeded to pass as wide as we could without running aground on the Eastside.  The working boat at that point looked to be repositioning himself, but was not, it was a job and finish and pulled across us, so we spun round as so as not to be pushed further East.  As we approached again another yacht was coming directly at us from the downstream, we spun again and Skip had to use a lot of horses to stop us from being affected by the speed of the tide and the bow thruster of the Red Funnel car ferry that was parking.  Finally, we got over the chains and headed home.

It was an interesting day full of incidents and situations, Jeff having watch us turn round opted to head back to Gosport.

August Bank Holiday - The trouble with gauges!

So with the Bank Holiday here in the UK approaching the crew were on their way back from Essex from Grandparenting duties and so on the Friday before the weekend, a chill-out day was called for, rather than turning around packing again and heading off.

So it was the Saturday morning before everyone arrived and I was prepared to head out for the weekend.  Sunday would see the Powerboat  Cowes Poole Cowes race and so I was expecting to be in Totland to watch them go by.  Light and fickle winds in the Solent saw us take an age to get to Totland however, we did manage to pass a yacht with its gennaker up which was mildly amusing. With plenty of light still to hand, they opted to don on my donk and dialled the autopilot in for Swanage, not crew’s first choice, but Skip finds Studland full of noisy people and craft, especially as the Sunday we would be waking up to a would be a turning point for the powerboat race.  It’s no wonder that the Seahorses can’t breed in there, it’s not us yachties pulling up the seagrass with our anchors, it’s the fact they can’t hear mating calls for the sound of high-speed twisting props!

We anchored in Swanage Bay closer to the beach than we had done before and Skip hoped that he had set enough chain out to hold my weight in the benign conditions, I don’t think the anchor bit and remembered last time we had an issue with a dragging anchor over weed. Skip took bearings on church spires and sought sustenance whilst everything settled, he also took a reading from GPS on his phone and wrote that down in case he wanted to check it during the night.  The night was not peaceful down below, I don’t know why but he didn’t really prepare me for anchor, no anchor snub didn’t remove the main halyard, nor oiled the Gooseneck etc, etc and paid the price. However, 5.0m was all we’d moved during the nights' change of tide, the neap range was a mere 300mm.  We set off with the tide and Skip always forgets how long sailing takes, he thought that Portland had come into view, then quickly then realised it was the other side of Anvil Head, a slow-moving biplane flew overhead.  Chapman’s pool, Warbarrow Bay, then the fog rolled in bringing with it wind oddly. With the sails set we hit 6.5kts in the fog, the AIS priceless in these conditions but wary of the odd vessel that hasn’t got one or lobster pot buoys.  The crew had become disorientated and so Skipper took the helm until the crew regained the hang of sailing by compass alone.  Lifejackets were worn and the fog horn came out ready and used in earnest to warn the one vessel whose track was a similar reciprocal course to ours, we never saw them, but they too had a foghorn and so could hear them go past.  The fog cleared and we were back under engine for Weymouth, the new gauges fitted by Skip had the oil pressure drop dramatically and recover, once in Weymouth he would check my oil levels.

Rafted up in Weymouth

The hope that the fleet of French yachts sailing East had left Weymouth empty didn’t ring true, it was rammed and we rafted alongside a sailing school who was leaving at 0400!  We opted to switch round and so Skip tied me to the 53’ yacht next to them, the stern line straight to their stern and the bowline taken all the way around the Schools yacht and back to the midships. With my engine running and bow thruster ready, the sailing school slipped out from between us, everyone except Skip wondering how this would pan out.  He pulled in the stern warp and the crew took in the slack on the bowline until able to pull directly against the yacht, as she did Skip applied the thruster and in we went.  Once tied up they helped bring the sailing school in on our port side and set his alarm for 0355 to assist their departure.  Weymouth was busy all round and choice of eating out was not only very limited but also came with a long wait, once fed they headed back on board to watch the fireworks. Our new neighbours were intending on leaving later around 0800 as like me and my mast, he has to be going under the Itchen bridge 3hrs either side of high water to get under.  At 0400 only one chap was up and he headed off to use the marina facilities, about 40minutes later they eventually left to head around Portland and on to Dartmouth.   We left about 0730 and with no wind had the Donkey do the work as the wind couldn't make up its mind whether to assist or not, it didn't.

Expecting to have the tide with us and wondering why the Sailing School chose to cross Lyme Bay at this time, Skip realised that the Easytide prediction information was miss-leading.  It suggested that low water was at 0750 and so what comes next is a flood tide which should take us East, but no the current didn’t turn till 1330!  There was a spell of some wind but by the time they were adjusting sails it disappeared as did everyone else as the fog rolled in and thickened once more only clearing as we approached the Needles.  With four hours of the tide with us left, they opted to head for home rather than anchor up at Totland at 1500.  During our passage, the oil pressure gauge kept flashing again as the pressure fell below 25psi.  Skip had checked levels in Weymouth and it was just below max but it did it again on our way home and so dug out the spare oil from under the bunk in the rear port cabin beneath all Gennaker, clean bed linen and pillows.  Now unlike petrol engines, Skip hadn’t realised that venting through the cap doesn’t occur on diesel engines and tried to pour oil into the filler only to see it go vertical!  He got the crew to put me on tick over to reduce pressure and the same thing happened. Finally, after turning the donk off and knocking the oil over, he used what was I had left (120ml) and the gauge went immediately back to 40-50psi.  They lowered the revs from 2200 to 2000 as the tide was by now kicking in behind and with more oil the water temperature dropped by a degree, such is the sensitivity and accuracy of these new gauges.

Fog pouring over Tennison Down

Opting not to anchor in a busy Totland Bay at 1530 and with another three hours of tide behind I was decided to continue to home, giving the crew time to sort themselves out before re-packing and heading back to Essex for more Grandparent duties.

So an interesting weekend, Weymouth rammed and eating out an issue and rather than queue for a beer in a traditional pub they headed back to me and sat and watched what they could of the fireworks.  Clearly, the forecast of good weather and little wind had all the big gin-palaces out too.

Apologies

Skipper has been quite busy with work, but that doesn't mean I've not been out.  Far from it.

I think I've been out more often but only for short trips this year than any other and this weekend was a typical example.

It happens to be the Fastnet race, 388 yachts competing in one of the most gruelling races and my crew know, between them, they've done five.  Luckily for me, they don't intend to put me through the same experience, however, having said that a few weeks ago I had a constant 20kts over my bows in the Solents short sharp chop.

With two reefs in and a partially rolled jib, we punched our way up the Western Solent.  Completely against the game plan, which was to head to Shanklin and anchor off the beach there.  The wind doesn't seem to conform with what the forecasters suggest and so they changed their minds.  They changed their minds again and turned me around and headed home.

They're not wrong when they say "If you can sail in the Solent, you can sail anywhere", with double tides, wind anomalies being effected by the island plus sea breezes you have to have your wits about you. Add to that all the 'let's go sailing' types that don't have full or some knowledge of the COLREGS and those that are 'Racing' and believe the regs don't apply.

So this weekend saw the start of the Fastnet race and my crew took me off to Totland to get a reasonable spot to watch the fleet go by.  Now skip clearly has not been off the boil and had trimmed the sails such that I could sail a straight line myself.  The new Jib is proving its worth and brings with it plenty of power, something I relish at my bow.  If the sea breeze hadn't brought with it a change in the underlying wind direction, I think we would've sailed almost all the wat without tacking.

Friday night was very peaceful.

And so Saturday with Skipper keeping an eye on three yachts in the race, an easy and pleasant day was had and Totland Bay filled up.

Now I know Skipper keeps an eye on tides, but we left our anchorage fairly early on Sunday morning 0930 and within minutes he had me up to 12.2kts SOG passing Hurst. In exactly two hours I was in the Medina.  Skip has obviously enhanced his understanding of what he can do with the new Jib and I was showing everyone my speed.

He's sorted out the new J3 to be used in both light and heavy airs.  Twinned with the Code 0 in light airs we shall have a lot of fun the idea is to cross Lyme Bay in about half the time it usually takes when under engine as the wind drops.  Likewise, when the wind is in the mid 20kts then the Jib can remain furled and the J3 can deliver the power needed for me to cut through the waves.

Every outing and I'm being sailed better, bring on the new sail.

Strange Weekend

This weekend saw another attempt thwarted to take me further than what is the usual, Totland. It started well, with everyone on board and be prepared in time to leave the Medina in order to catch the remainder of the ebb tide West.

Skipper wanted to run me on the jib only so he could see how much of a difference the new sail is compared to the old one.  Unfortunately, it was soon discovered that the wind was going to be fickle and light. So with the whites up what wind there was took us slowly along the Western Solent in lovely sunshine.  The wind was fickle and in the end, the engine came on and left at tick over, 5kts of boat speed and 7kts speed over ground (SOG), but the target of Studland or Swanage seemed too far to warrant winding the engine up and going for it, after all this was supposed to be another pleasant sail.  With the usual rapids ride past Hurst Castle the main was dropped and packed.  It was at this point the wind picked up, Totland Bay was busy the sun had brought everyone out including a sailing club from the mainland.  a flotilla of dinghy's had raced over in the morning, complete with a fleet of safety boats and the bar-b-q, food and drink brought over by a much smaller fleet of motorboats and yachts.

We opted to leave our usual anchorage as it was too close to too many and anchored further out, but with 10m more of chain than usual, a mistake rather than planned, as the chain marker was missed.  Skip opted to continue with his fish studies whilst the crew read her book, the wind didn't abate.  In fact during the night skip got up to turn off my wind generator as that always makes it sound worse than it actually is and with the anchor light and AIS on a measly 0.2amps of power was being used.  It is usual for the skip to remain awake as he listens to creaks and groans and tries to work out where they're coming from. This particular night there were none bar the wind generator and the anchor chain.  Despite the snubber being on, various noises came from the bow and skip made a mental note to check all the fittings to make sure nothing has been working itself loose after all this time.

Around 0700 Sunday morning, skip awake he gets up to locate his phone and turn off the anchor light, noticing out of the window after a quick sense check of where I was in relation to everything else, he noted a freighter coming in to go through the Needles channel.  He also noted the mist that was on the top of Tenneson Down and the Needles Lighthouse sounding its horn, automatically acted in poor visibility.  He went back to bed and checked the weather and tides, the plan was to leave later in the day and catch the flood tide back to Cowes.  The weather app suggested some 35kts of gusts in Cowes later and so the crew was woken and a swift retreat catching the last of this flood was made.

The fog had descended by then but whilst visibility was poor, grey objects could be made out a few miles around you.  The wind what little there was again, was by now from the South West and virtually from behind so back on went the engine and this time run at 2,200rpm to get back to Cowes to beat the strong winds.  By the time they had me sorted, washed up and back indoors, the sun came out and a lovely afternoon unfolded!